Follett to Close Canadian Office

By Daniel Draper, UWFA Administrative Assistant

Early this month, Follett – the company that now controls the UW Bookstore – announced that it would be closing its Ottawa offices and centralizing its operations in Oak Brook, Illinois. According to reports, Follett will be moving its trade book purchasing and sourcing to Illinois, while moving some of the other responsibilities to its bookstores in Canada.

The move to close the Canadian offices has caused serious concern for local publishers, including Wayne Antony of Fernwood Publishing. In a letter to Dr. Axworthy, he expressed concern that “only the largest national and international publishers will be able to effectively present their titles to the Follett buyer in Illinois. Local and Canadian publishers and authors have been, for the most part, shut out of the new U of W bookstore.”

Antony continues, “My question to you, Dr. Axworthy, is: why have you chosen, for the U of W bookstore, a corporate textbook, warehouse model with decisions made in Illinois over a community bookstore model deeply integrated into the intellectual and cultural life of its community?”

Within the University, concerns have been raised about new deadlines imposed by the Follett-run bookstore. It has been noted the April 15 deadline for submission of booklists for September seems disconnected from the reality of faculty life.

According to the Quill & Quire, “Follett… avoids foreign ownership guidelines – which require Canadian bookstores to be majority-owned and controlled by Canadians – by leasing the stores, rather than purchasing them outright.”

For more information on Follett’s move, visit the Quill & Quire at http://www.quillandquire.com/google/article.cfm?article_id=11235.

Full text of Wayne Antony’s letter to Dr. Axworthy.

Wayne Antony's Letter